Sex and the Origins of Death Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Sex and the Origins of Death Book

Despite its provocative title, Sex & the Origins of Death is not as sensationalistic as it sounds. William R. Clark is a professor of immunology at UCLA, and his avowed intention is to enlighten his readers rather than to frighten or titillate. Drawing on his broad knowledge of the cellular systems that make up our bodies and the medical and ethical arguments on the nature of death, he presents a compelling tale of the evolution of sex and death interwoven with a story of a man experiencing a heart attack. This juxtaposition humanizes the discussion and grounds the reader firmly in day-to-day reality, even when considering such bizarre topics as immortal bacteria and Sea Monkey spores. Clark covers the development of sex in microorganisms and how this novelty may have guaranteed the inevitability of death (though perhaps not that of taxes). From this level of thinking, he changes quickly to 20th-century American law, which has pondered the question of death at great length as our scientific prowess has enabled us to maintain deeply traumatized individuals in persistent vegetative states, presumably free from conscious awareness of any kind. Now that death has become a matter of opinion, Clark insists that we pay careful attention to it, both as scientists and as human beings. Sex & the Origins of Death is a great place to start. --Rob Lightner Read More

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  • Product Description

    In Sex and the Origins of Death, William R. Clark looks at life and death at the level of the cell, as he addresses such profound questions as why we age, why death exists, and why death and sex go hand in hand. We learn that every cell in our body has a self-destruct program embedded into it and that cell suicide is in fact a fairly commonplace event. But why do our cells have such programs? And why must we die? To shed light on this question, Clark reaches far back in evolutionary history, to the moment when "inevitable death" (death from aging) first appeared.

    In Sex and the Origins of Death, William Clark ranges far and wide over fascinating terrain. This brilliant, profound volume illuminates the miraculous workings of life at its most elemental level and finds in these tiny spaces the answers to some of our largest questions.

  • 0195121198
  • 9780195121193
  • William R. Clark
  • 25 June 1998
  • OUP USA
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 208
  • New Ed
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